This is well worth a read through, because should Perry become the nominee, you may rest assured the president will slam him hard.  The only thing Obama has is to discredit the other guy since he can't run on a record of failure.  These are points that will need to be seriously looked at and resolved should Perry become the nominee.  The article has the 14 issues, but there is a rebuttle in comments that is excellent from someone who would know and lives in the state of Texas, so I will provide that as well.

Supporters of Texas Governor Rick Perry are not going to like this article at all. Right now, Republicans all over the United States are touting Rick Perry as the "Republican messiah" that is going to come charging in to save America from the presidency of Barack Obama. Many believe that if Rick Perry enters the race, he will instantly become the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Perry certainly looks the part and he knows how to give a good speech, but when ordinary Americans all over the country take a hard look at his record, they may not like what they see. The truth is that Rick Perry is a big-time globalist, he has raised taxes and fees in Texas numerous times, he has massively increased the size of government spending and government debt in Texas, he has been trying to ram the Trans-Texas Corridor down the throats of the Texas people and he tried to force young women all over Texas to be injected with the Gardasil vaccine. No, Rick Perry is not going to save America. In fact, he would likely be very, very similar to both Bush and Obama in a lot of ways.

Right now, Rick Perry is trying to portray himself as a "good conservative" so that if he enters the race he will be accepted by Christian conservatives. If Rick Perry did win the Republican nomination, he would have a great chance of winning the general election because he would very much be an "establishment" candidate.

But before Republicans get too excited about Rick Perry, there are a whole lot of things that they should know about him.

The following are 14 reasons why Rick Perry would be a really, really bad president....

#1 Rick Perry is a "big government" politician. When Rick Perry became the governor of Texas in 2000, the total spending by the Texas state government was approximately $49 billion. Ten years later it was approximately $90 billion. That is not exactly reducing the size of government.

#2 The debt of the state of Texas is out of control. According to usdebtclock.org, the debt to GDP ratio in Texas is 22.9% and the debt per citizen is $10,645. In California (a total financial basket case), the debt to GDP ratio is just 18.7% and the debt per citizen is only $9932. If Rick Perry runs for president these are numbers he will want to keep well hidden.

#3 The total debt of the Texas government has more than doubled since Rick Perry became governor. So what would the U.S. national debt look like after four (or eight) years of Rick Perry?

#4 Rick Perry has spearheaded the effort to lease roads in Texas to foreign companies, to turn roads that are already free to drive on into toll roads, and to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor which would be part of the planned NAFTA superhighway system. If you really do deep research on this whole Trans-Texas Corridor nonsense you will see why no American should ever cast a single vote for Rick Perry.

#5 Rick Perry claims that he has a "track record" of not raising taxes. That is a false claim. Rick Perry has repeatedly raised taxes and fees while he has been governor. Today, Texans are faced with significantly higher taxes and fees than they were before Rick Perry was elected.

#6 Even with the oil boom in Texas, 23 states have a lower unemployment rate than Texas does.

#7 Back in 1988, Rick Perry supported Al Gore for president. In fact, Rick Perry actually served as Al Gore's campaign chairman in the state of Texas that year.

#8 Between December 2007 and April 2011, weekly wages in the U.S. increased by about 5 percent. In the state of Texas they increased by just 0.6% over that same time period.

#9 Texas now has one of the worst education systems in the nation. The following is from an opinion piece that was actually authored by Barbara Bush earlier this year....

•  We rank 36th in the nation in high school graduation rates. An estimated 3.8 million Texans do not have a high school diploma.

•  We rank 49th in verbal SAT scores, 47th in literacy and 46th in average math SAT scores.

•  We rank 33rd in the nation on teacher salaries.

 

#10 Rick Perry attended the Bilderberg Group meetings in 2007. Associating himself with that organization should be a red flag for all American voters.

#11 Texas has the highest percentage of workers making minimum wage out of all 50 states.

#12 Rick Perry often gives speeches about illegal immigration, but when you look at the facts, he has been incredibly soft on the issue. If Rick Perry does not plan to secure the border, then he should not be president because illegal immigration is absolutely devastating many areas of the southwest United States.

#13 In 2007, 221,000 residents of Texas were making minimum wage or less. By 2010, that number had risen to 550,000.

#14 Rick Perry actually issued an executive order in 2007 that would have forced almost every single girl in the state of Texas to receive the Gardasil vaccine before entering the sixth grade. Perry would have put parents in a position where they would have had to fill out an application and beg the government not to inject their child with a highly controversial vaccine. Since then, very serious safety issues regarding this vaccine have come to light. Fortunately, lawmakers in Texas blocked what Perry was trying to do. According to Wikipedia, many were troubled when "apparent financial connections between Merck and Perry were reported by news outlets, such as a $6,000 campaign contribution and Merck's hiring of former Perry Chief of Staff Mike Toomey to handle its Texas lobbying work."

find the rest of the article here:  http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/14-reasons-why-rick-perry...

 

The rebuttle:

I am a conservative
activist in Texas, where I've lived since 1967. I first volunteered for the
Reagan-Bush campaign in 1984 and currently serve as a GOP chairman of my voting
precinct. I am not affiliated with any campaign, and my closest encounter with
Gov. Perry was shaking his hand at a luncheon co-hosted by my former employer in
2009. Thus I am in an excellent position to provide a long-term perspective on a
newcomer candidate in a state that may be far from yours.

First, a bit of relevant history. Texas, like most Southern states after
Reconstruction, established a strong legislature and a weak executive branch.
Governors have always found this frustrating. For example, the Texas governor
can appoint hundreds of members of boards and commissions, but cannot remove one
member — even those he has appointed — without the state senate's consent.

Legislators have enjoyed their relative advantage in power, with some caveats.
One of these is, the governor can veto (and line-item veto) bills presented to
him for signature.

The list of advantages and disadvantages goes on, but what's most important to
remember is, the Texas governor has limited power and must use it wisely in
order to influence state government.Now, let's look at those 14
points.

#1 Rick Perry is a “big government” politician. When Rick Perry became the
governor of Texas in 2000, the total spending by the Texas state government was
approximately $49 billion. Ten years later it was approximately $90 billion.
That is not exactly reducing the size of government.

So: Which state's governor has actually presided over a reduction in the size of
government?

As much as we all would like to see government shrink, no state has reduced
spending from year to year. In fact, the

average increase in per-capita state spending from 1987-2007 was 30....

Much of this growth is Medicaid-driven. Further, Texas is a growing state,
adding three U.S. Congressional seats with the latest census. Although there are
always opportunities to limit state spending, basic services such as education
simply must grow with population.

Because Texas is a balanced-budget state, one good measure of its spending is
the total tax burden per capita.

In that,
Texas ranks best of all 50 states.
Even while keeping the tax burden lowest of all states, Texas managed to salt
away more than $9 billion in the state's "Rainy Day" fund.

Most governors have limited control over state spending. Given his
constitutional constraints, how has Rick Perry measured up?

In the 2011 regular legislative session, Gov. Perry refused to go along with
lawmakers' desire to tap the Rainy Day fund. When the regular session ended and
the legislature had failed to pass a budget, Gov. Perry held his ground in the
subsequent, 30-day special session until

legislators put forth more than $800 million in spending reductions.

So, in the worst economy in 30 years, Texas still balanced its budget without a
tax increase.

Gov. Perry's hard line on behalf of taxpayers (and against legislators' tendency
to spend every dollar) made this possible.

#2 The debt of the state of Texas is out of control. According to
usdebtclock.org, the debt to GDP ratio in Texas is 22.9% and the debt per
citizen is $10,645. In California (a total financial basket case), the debt to
GDP ratio is just 18.7% and the debt per citizen is only $9932. If Rick Perry
runs for president these are numbers he will want to keep well hidden.

Gov. Perry has more accurate numbers in his state's favor. The Tax Foundation,
which is technically nonpartisan but a favorite of conservatives for its hard
line against tax increases, ranks

Texas 49th in state debt per capita and as a percentage of state GDP.
It’s useful to note that California is a “basket case” precisely because of overspending while
its population shrinks and businesses flee to other states. Texas can hardly be called a basket case, and increased spending and debt can mostly be attributed to keeping up with the demands of state growth, such as highways, education, and other services.

#3 The total debt of the Texas government has more than doubled since Rick Perry
became governor. So what would the U.S. national debt look like after four (or
eight) years of Rick Perry?

Like the spending-growth accusation, this one must be put in the context of all
states. According to MainStreet.com's report, "The Most Debt-Ridden States
in America," Texas ranks as the 3rd Least Debt-Ridden State (9th
slide)

#4 Rick Perry has spearheaded the effort to lease roads in Texas to foreign
companies, to turn roads that are already free to drive on into toll roads, and
to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor which would be part of the planned NAFTA
superhighway system. If you really do deep research on this whole Trans-Texas
Corridor nonsense you will see why no American should ever cast a single vote
for Rick Perry.

This doesn't really add up to a criticism that can be rebutted. In general, references to "foreign companies" smack of xenophobia; our economy
(including American icons such as Wal-Mart) would fail immediately without
international trade and investment.

As for "free" roads, there is no such thing. Taxes or tolls pay for
road-building and maintenance. The only question is, "Who pays?"

Texas has an excellent record in this. Users of our first major toll highway, IH-30
between Dallas and Fort Worth, paid it off well ahead of schedule, and IH-30 is
now a non-toll road. The enormous cost of urban land acquisition was borne only
by those who needed to use the road first. Now everyone traveling that route
reaps the benefits.

Texas is the second-largest state in the union by land mass, and its growing,
major cities are situated hundreds of miles apart. It will always have
transportation issues unlike any other state's, and these will require creative
solutions.

Toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor idea certainly have been controversial.
On the other hand, Texans have paid the same motor-fuel tax (20 cents/gallon)
since 1991, and a very low vehicle-registration fee (about $60 annually) for
decades. There is no other road-use tax levied on noncommercial vehicles. How
can the governor be faulted for exploring all options for meeting the state's
transportation needs without raising those fees?
Ultimately, Gov. Perry signed the bill killing the Trans-Texas Corridor. How many politicians are willing to let reality knock down a grand idea they have supported? We could use more humility like that in our officials.
Finally, the invitation to "deep research" cannot mean simply Googling the web for the
thousands of ill-informed opinions posted by anonymous, partisan, and
financially interested parties. We have legislatures and public meetings for
getting to the bottom of hotly contested issues.

#5 Rick Perry claims that he has a “track record” of not raising taxes. That is
a false claim. Rick Perry has repeatedly raised taxes and fees while he has been
governor. Today, Texans are faced with significantly higher taxes and fees than
they were before Rick Perry was elected.

The Texas governor has no authority to raise taxes or fees. Only the state
legislature can do that, with the governor's consent or though an override of
his veto. Without a source or even a specific tax cited, this accusation sounds
rather wild.

On Texas' recent record, the Tax Foundation does not agree with your assessment.
Texas ranks 45th of 50 states by State-Local Tax Burden per capita. Its rank
when Perry assumed the governorship?
Also 45th.

The governor can, as noted above, threaten to veto the state budget (or use the
line-item veto) in order to check the legislature on its spending. Within his
constitutional powers, Gov. Perry has has very effectively toed the taxpayers'
line on taxes and spending.

#6 Even with the oil boom in Texas, 23 states have a lower unemployment rate
than Texas does.

That makes Texas … average. Why is that a reason not to vote for Rick Perry?

Furthermore, consider that a state's unemployment rate can look better or worse
depending on how many of its workers hold "recession proof" government jobs.
Bigger government, fewer layoffs, lower overall unemployment. It is no wonder
many of the blue states have weathered this recession better.

Texas' government is small compared to other states', so by rights, its
unemployment picture should be relatively worse. In reality, Texas is actually
doing quite well, with its unemployment rate square in the middle of all states.

Nobody has reason to cheer in this economy. Yet, Texas leads the nation in job
creation, nearly
ten times the pace of its nearest rival. Companies are moving to Texas at a record pace. Gov.
Perry understands first-hand the value of a positive business climate.

#7 Back in 1988, Rick Perry supported Al Gore for president. In fact, Rick Perry
actually served as Al Gore’s campaign chairman in the state of Texas that year.

In 1988, Sen. Al Gore ran for president as a Southern, relatively conservative,
pro-life Democrat. (We need more of those in Democrat-controlled districts and
states to help conservatives win close-call votes in our legislatures.) As Vice
President Gore demonstrates today, people change. Parties change, too.
(Ultimately, Sen. Gore lost the nomination to Gov. Michael Dukakis, whom Perry
did not support.)

Let us remember that Ronald Reagan was a Democrat for decades — and a union
president, no less! Former U.S. Sen. Zell Miller, a lifelong Democrat, gave a
keynote speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention that had delegates
cheering on their feet. These men were conservatives, abandoned by their party.

So it has been in Texas. The term "conservative Democrat" lived much longer
here than in most other places. Like many southern states, Texas took more than
100 years to elect its first post-Reconstruction Republican governor. Its
legislature remained in Democrat hands until 2003.

Party labels matter, but what matters more is a candidate's conservatism. No one
has ever called Gov. Perry a "liberal" because it doesn't jibe with his record.

#8 Between December 2007 and April 2011, weekly wages in the U.S. increased by
about 5 percent. In the state of Texas they increased by just 0.6% over that
same time period.

With no source cited, it is very difficult to discern what this statistic is
supposed to tell us.

For example, if most of those wage gains were eaten up by progressive state
income-tax rates (as many of us remember from the 1970s, with its
inflation-driven "bracket creep"), then
Texans may have fared quite well — by paying no state income tax.Another possible interpretation is that Texas’ population is growing at a pace that dilutes wage gains. More people seeking work here, more downward pressure on average wages. That they are finding work is the saving grace of that possible explanation.

Further, and more to the point, how did this abstruse comparison become one of
"14 reasons why Rick Perry would be a really, really bad president"?

#9 Texas now has one of the worst education systems in the nation. The following
is from an opinion piece that was actually authored by Barbara Bush earlier this
year….

• We rank 36th in the nation in high school graduation rates. An estimated 3.8
million Texans do not have a high school diploma.

• We rank 49th in verbal SAT scores, 47th in literacy and 46th in average math
SAT scores.

• We rank 33rd in the nation on teacher salaries.

First, with all due respect for the former First Lady and her efforts to expand
literacy in America, part of her article was predicated on the false choice
between (on the one hand) spending all that administrators want to spend, and
(on the other) cutting the number of teachers, increasing class sizes,
eliminating scholarships for underprivileged students, and closing several
community colleges. None of these measures were on the table this year; rather,
they're the sort of bugaboos raised by the government-education complex every time the electorate looks hard at its ever-increasing budgets.

Second, since when have fiscal conservatives ever believed that high teacher
salaries make an education system better? That actually sounds more like a union
talking point.

Third, conservatives like me would like to see a reduced federal role in public
education. Gov. Perry's
support for home schooling in Texas suggests that he
understands that education is — first and foremost — the responsibility of
parents.
Education can be delegated by parents to private or public entities, but
ultimately it is up to those same parents to ensure they are getting the service
they've contracted for.

As for the state's record, Texas is among the top states for "Best Public Schools in the
Country,"
according to Newsweek.

Ultimately, government schools' performance isn't an accurate measure of a
governor's performance. Not least because the Texas State Board of Education is
elected by the people, not appointed. Most school districts are administered
locally.

Cherry-picking statistics without controlling for demographics or other
important factors also tells us little.

#10 Rick Perry attended the Bilderberg Group meetings in 2007. Associating
himself with that organization should be a red flag for all American voters.

Substituting "conspiracy theorists" for "voters"
makes that
statement correct.

#11 Texas has the highest percentage of workers making minimum wage out of all
50 states.

The statists at Think Progress have made this their

leading critique of Gov. Perry, aided and abetted by the leftists who
control Austin's only newspaper. It is curious that those who reflexively defend
the minimum wage also decry its actual use.

But the critique does not include any analysis to help readers understand the
statistic. Nor does it acknowledge that when comparing 50 states, all of them can't
be average.

Is "no jobs" better than "some jobs"? Would Gov. Perry's detractors prefer that
minimum-wage employees have make-work government jobs that pay more than minimum
wage? Or would they rather have workers unemployed and dependent on welfare?

#12 Rick Perry often gives speeches about illegal immigration, but when you look
at the facts, he has been incredibly soft on the issue. If Rick Perry does not
plan to secure the border, then he should not be president because illegal
immigration is absolutely devastating many areas of the southwest United States.

To say, "Look at the facts," then cite no facts, invites us to see what we want
to see.

No one doubts the seriousness of the illegal immigration problem. We feel it
acutely in Texas. Patience is running thin here. Everyone wants someone, anyone,
in a position of power to "do something."

These desires sometimes run up against very real limits on state power. Everyone
is waiting for the outcome of Arizona's bold test. If the Supreme Court
eventually rules against the federal government, we can expect other states
(including Texas) to follow suit.

In reality, there isn't much that individual states or their governors can do to
"secure the border." That's within federal jurisdiction.

But states can act within their 10th Amendment rights to protect their citizens
from harmful consequences of illegal immigration. Here are the most recent
immigration-related bills signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry:

SB 1 (82-1), Verifying Citizenship of Applicants for Drivers Licenses.
Provisions added to Senate Bill 1 in the Special Session codify portions of a
Texas Public Safety Commission rule requiring applicants for new, renewal, or
duplicate licenses to prove either U.S. citizenship or legal immigration. SB 1
also links the expiration of legal immigrants' drivers’ licenses, provisional
licenses, or occupational licenses to the date of the expiration of their legal
immigration status. These changes are particularly important not only because
they will help ensure that non-citizens are prevented from voting (especially in
light of the passage of SB 14, the voter photo ID bill), but they will also
prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining drivers licenses, and assist the work
of law enforcement officers and border security officials, who will be able to
ascertain the immigration status of anyone they detain.

SB 1009, Notification of Foreign Students Leaving a Course of Study. This helps
ensure that federal immigration authorities are informed whenever a foreign
student leaves a course of study at a public institution of higher education in
Texas. In many cases, enrollment in such a course is the basis on which a
foreign student was legally admitted to the United States. It is vital,
therefore, that ICE be made aware whenever a foreign student leaves a course as
this may invalidate his residency in the United States.

Gov. Perry also added an initiative to this year's special legislative session
which would have withheld state funds from "sanctuary cities," wherein local,
leftist politicians have openly rebelled against state and federal immigration
laws. The legislature's two houses failed to agree on a final bill. Gov. Perry
took

significant political risk by endorsing this measure.

Here in Texas, there has been no groundswell of dissatisfaction with Gov.
Perry's position on illegal immigration. Indeed, conservatives everywhere need
to be on guard against Democrat-led efforts to split the party with this issue.
They have done so successfully many times in the past, conveniently raising
immigration concerns just before elections only to stymie real efforts to
address them. The political left always wins at this game, and America always
loses.

#13 In 2007, 221,000 residents of Texas were making minimum wage or less. By
2010, that number had risen to 550,000.

Again, what is the significance of this, and what is the source?

#14 Rick Perry actually issued an executive order in 2007 that would have forced
almost every single girl in the state of Texas to receive the Gardasil vaccine
before entering the sixth grade. Perry would have put parents in a position
where they would have had to fill out an application and beg the government not
to inject their child with an untested and unproven vaccine. Since then, very
serious safety issues regarding this vaccine have come to light. Fortunately,
lawmakers in Texas blocked what Perry was trying to do. According to Wikipedia,
many were troubled when “apparent financial connections between Merck and Perry
were reported by news outlets, such as a $6,000 campaign contribution and
Merck’s hiring of former Perry Chief of Staff Mike Toomey to handle its Texas
lobbying work.”

In this case, it could be argued that Gov. Perry did the wrong thing for the
right reason. Cervical cancer killed more than 4,000 American women last
year, many at a relatively young age. Gardasil was, in fact, tested and
proven effective before the FDA prior to its release on the market.The people of Texas had reason to resist Gov. Perry’s choice of action, and, through their legislators, they rebuked him. The
executive order is now moot.

Some of the nation's greatest conservative leaders have said and done things
that confounded their supporters. Barry Goldwater came out in favor of abortion.
Phil Gramm voted to establish the Department of Education. President Reagan, an
avowed advocate of federalism, signed a bill threatening to withhold highway
funds from states unless they changed their drinking age to a federal standard.
No officeholder has made the "right" call every single time.The question for
conservatives is, "Has the candidate established a strong record of conservatism
in votes, deeds, and words?" The answer, in Rick Perry's case, is "Yes."